Green Product Design Network members are invited to hear about current issues in environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) for building products and materials from Philip White, Industrial Design, Arizona State University. Introductions, food and conversation to follow.

Guests are invited to submit a slide to introduce their product, company, research topic, or research need following the lecture. This is a chance for companies with an interest in performing an LCA or using LCA to evaluate products or supply chain to connect to folks with complementary needs or resources to offer. Our hope is that all attendees will gain some new knowledge about LCA in design, manufacturing, and marketing and will make connections with others in the LCA and building products communities.

This event is hosted by the University of Oregon Green Product Design Network with support from Oregon BEST and PDX Design Forum.

Guest: Philip White is an ecological design strategist who develops ecologically intelligent products and systems. He chairs the Ecodesign Section of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) where he established a partnership between IDSA and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He organized the development of the Okala Ecological Design Curriculum that is used by more than 40 schools of product design in North America. Dr. White advises on impact assessment methodology to the Sustainable Products Purchasers Coalition, is an active member of the LifeCycle Initiative of the United Nations Environmental Programme, and holds 14 patents.

LCA Public Presentations - Your are Invited to Join Us

You are invited to join us for the following public presentations offered as part of Prof. Erin Moore's graduate seminar "Introduction to Lifecycle Assessment for Design" in the UO Architecture Department:

This is a good article describing the current efforts of the Eco Index tool ... the standardization of performance metrics and the creation of a common language within the industry to help businesses make wiser decisions and influence their supply chain. Today, the tool is inward facing but there seems to be increasing conversation and progression towards a consumer label like Energy Star.

I am doing the final work on a talk called "Green by Design" that will be given at GreenLaneSBN's next networking meeting. I am looking for examples and collaborative effort partners that would like to offer thoughts or input. It is a talk about the meaning of Green and Sustainability and how to build or design that into your business' Products and Practices. Co-Speakers are also welcome.

Thomas, thomas@greenlane-sbn.org
GreenLane, Board member http://www.greenlane-sbn.org/
If you want to learn about what it means to be sustainable business in the 21st Century and want your business to become Greener tomorrow than it was the day before join us.

I was reading through this "Design for Reuse" document by Public Architecture and thought it might also interest a number of you all. There are some interesting case studies included. The document was too large to attach, but here is the link:

I wanted to draw your attention to an interesting article published in Environmental Science & Technology this fall entitled Sustainability Metrics: Life Cycle Assessment and Green Design in Polymers. In addition to providing a robust comparison of seven petroleum and four plant-based polymers, the study also discusses the role of green chemistry in the design of polymers.

(from Science Daily, October 25, 2010) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101021104741.htmPlant-Based Plastics Not Necessarily Greener Than Oil-Based Relatives, Researchers FindScienceDaily (Oct. 25, 2010) — An analysis of plant and petroleum-derived plastics by University of Pittsburgh researchers suggests that biopolymers are not necessarily better for the environment than their petroleum-based relatives, according to a report in Environmental Science & Technology. The Pitt team found that while biopolymers are the more eco-friendly material, traditional plastics can be less environmentally taxing to produce. (to read more... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101021104741.htm)